Antonio Inoki
|weight= |status= |trained= |debut= September 30, 1960 |billed=Tokyo, Japan |other= |birthname = Kanji Inoki|birth_date = |birth_place = Yokohama, Japan|resides = Tokyo, Japan|names = Antonio Inoki Moeru Toukon Tokyo Tom Little Tokyo The Kamikaze Kazimoto Killer Inoki|trainer = Rikidōzan Karl Gotch|retired = April 4, 1998}} Antonio Inoki (born on February 20, 1943) is a Japanese professional wrestling promoter, politician, retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. Inoki's ring name is a homage to wrestler Antonino Rocca. He also wrestled under the ring names Moeru Toukon and Tokyo Tom. Inoki converted to Islam in 1990 and took the name Muhammad Hussain Inoki, something he did not publicly reveal until 2012. Inoki began his professional wrestling career in 1960, working for the Japanese Wrestling Association and became a wrestling promoter in 1972 when he founded New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) that he remained the owner of until 2005 where he sold his controlling share in the promotion to the Yuke's video game company. He later founded the Inoki Genome Federation. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2010. As a professional wrestler he became one of the most respected wrestlers of Japan, bolstered by his mixed martial arts match against boxer Muhammad Ali in 1976. Inoki headlined two shows in North Korea that drew 150,000 and 190,000 spectators respectively, the highest attendance in professional wrestling. In 1989, while still an active wrestler Inoki entered Japanese politics as he was elected to the Japanese House of Councillors and as part of his first term with the House of Councillors successfully negotiated with Saddam Hussein for the release of Japanese hostages before the outbreak of the Gulf War. His first tenure in the House of Councillors ended in 1995, but he was reelected in 2013. Early life Inoki was born in an affluent family in Yokohama in 1943. He was the sixth son and the second youngest of the seven boys and four girls. His father, Sajiro Inoki, a businessman and politician, died when Kanji was five years old. Inoki entered the Higashidai Grade School. Inoki was taught karate by an older brother while in 6th grade. By the time he was in 7th grade at Terao Junior High School, he was 180 centimeters tall and joined the basketball team. He later quit and joined a track and field club as a shot putter. He eventually won the championship at the Yokohama Junior High School track and field competition. The family fell on hard times in the post-war years, and in 1957, the 14-year-old Inoki emigrated to Brazil with his grandfather, mother and brothers. His grandfather died during the journey to Brazil. Inoki won regional championships in Brazil in the shot put, discus throw, and javelin throw, and finally the All Brazilian championships in the shot put and discus.Antonio Inoki Home Page. Twc-wrestle.com. Retrieved on May 10, 2014. Professional wrestling career Japan Wrestling Association (1960–1966) Inoki met Rikidōzan at the age of 17. He went back to Japan for the Japanese Wrestling Association (JWA) as Rikidōzan's disciple. One of his dojo classmates was Giant Baba. After Rikidozan's death, Inoki worked in Baba's shadow until he joined the original Tokyo Pro Wrestling in 1966. Tokyo Pro Wrestling (1966–1967) After a long excursion of wrestling in the United States, Inoki found a new home in Tokyo Pro Wrestling. While there, Inoki became their biggest star. Unfortunately, the company folded in 1967, due to turmoil behind the scenes. Japan Wrestling Association (1967–1971) Returning to JWA in late 1967, Inoki was made Baba's partner and the two dominated the tag team ranks as the "B-I Cannon", winning the NWA International tag team belts four times. Wrestling legend Bruno Sammartino tells a story about Inoki trying to "shoot" him during a tag match in Osaka to build his reputation against the then-world champ. Bruno powered out of the hold, pounded Inoki mercilessly and threw him out of the ring. Inoki allegedly refused to re-enter the ring with Sammartino and tagged in Baba to finish the match. New Japan Pro Wrestling (1972–1994) Fired from JWA in late 1971 for planning a takeover of the promotion, Inoki founded New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) in 1972. His first match as a New Japan wrestler was against Karl Gotch. On November 30, 1979, Inoki defeated WWF Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund in Tokushima, Japan to win the title. Backlund then won a rematch on December 6. However, WWF president Hisashi Shinma declared the re-match a no contest due to interference from Tiger Jeet Singh, and Inoki remained Champion. Inoki refused the title on the same day, and it was declared vacant. Backlund later defeated Bobby Duncum in a Texas Death match to regain the title on December 12. As Inoki refused the title, his reign is not included nor is it recognized by WWE in its official history, and Backlund is recognized as having one reign from 1978–1983. In 1995 the Japanese and the North Korean governments came together to hold a two-day wrestling festival for peace in Pyongyang, North Korea. The event drew 150,000 and 190,000 fans respectively to Rungnado May Day Stadium. The main event saw the only match between Inoki and Ric Flair, with Inoki coming out on top. Days before this event, Inoki and the Korean press went to the grave and birthplace of Rikidōzan and paid tribute to him. Final Countdown and retirement (1994–present) Inoki's retirement from professional wrestling matches came with the staging of the "Final Countdown" series between 1994 and 1998. This was a special series in which Inoki re-lived some of his mixed martial arts matches under professional wrestling rules, as well as rematches of some of his most well known wrestling matches. As part of the Final Countdown tour, Inoki made a rare World Championship Wrestling appearance; defeating WCW World Television Champion Steven Regal in a non-title match at Clash of the Champions XXVIII. Inoki faced Don Frye in the final match of his professional wrestling career. Culminating in 2006, Inoki's influence within New Japan declined. An example of this has been the purchase of his image by Yuke's, who in 2005 purchased his controlling 51.5% stock in New Japan. . uk.games.ign.comYuke's Buys Controlling Share of New Japan Pro Wrestling. Gamasutra.com (November 15, 2005). Retrieved on May 10, 2014. As a result, New Japan is now able to control Inoki's appearances and the use of his image. Inoki began a new promotion in 2007 called Inoki Genome Federation that competes with New Japan. On February 1, 2010, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) announced on its Japanese website that Inoki would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2010. Inoki was presented with a Hall of Fame certificate by WWE's Ed Wells and stated that he would be attending the WrestleMania XXVI weekend festivities, during which he was inducted by Stan Hansen. Personal life and religion Inoki was married to actress Mitsuko Baisho from 1971 to 1987, and together they had a daughter, Hiroko..アントニオ猪木は“戦友”倍賞美津子（２）. ZAKZAK (October 30, 2004). Retrieved on May 10, 2014. Inoki converted to Shia in 1990 during a pilgrimage to Karbala, the Shiite holy city in Iraq. He was in Iraq negotiating for the release of several Japanese hostages. This was only revealed in 2012, along with the declaration that he had changed his name to Muhammad Hussain Inoki. . Inoki has reportedly described himself as both a "Muslim" convert and a Buddhist. Inoki opened a wrestling themed restaurant in Shinjuku, Tokyo named Antonio's Inoki Sakaba Shinjuku.http://taiken.co/single/antonio-inoki-sakabar-shinjuku In media Inoki appears both in the manga and anime Tiger Mask, in a secondary role: in the Japanese series he is the only one who was able to win over Naoto Date, i.e. Tiger Mask, and the two became best friends subsequently. Inoki appeared in the film The Bad News Bears Go to Japan as himself. A subplot in his scenes involved Inoki seeking a rematch with Ali. Gene LeBell, who also appears in these scenes as a manager of Inoki's scheduled opponent, Mean Bones Beaudine, was the referee of Inoki's match with Ali. Inoki's appearance in the film culminates with a match against the main character, Marvin Lazar (played by Tony Curtis), when Beaudine suddenly becomes unavailable to participate. Professional wrestler Héctor Guerrero served as Curtis's stunt double for the wrestling portions of this scene. Inoki had the starring role in the film Acacia directed by Jinsei Tsuji. In Oh!Great's manga Air Gear, Inoki is regularly referred to by the author, and also the characters as an influence on their fighting style. The manga also makes several less than complimentary references to Inoki's large chin. Along with Inoki, Steve Austin of the World Wrestling Federation has been referred to in Air Gear's pages, often in naming things. (This is based on the translation by Tanoshimi Manga, and later by Balantine Books/Del Rey Books. Other translations may omit these references) The pro-wrestler character Kanji Igari in the manga (and anime) series Baki the Grappler is based heavily on Inoki. In wrestling * Finishing moves ** Bridging fallaway slam ** Enzuigiri – innovated ** Manji-Gatame ** Sleeper hold * Signature moves ** Bare knuckled punches ** Cobra Twist (Abdominal stretch) ** Cross armbreaker ** Diving knee drop ** Dropkick ** Indian deathlock ** Seated armbar ** Slap ** Stepover standing armbar * Nicknames ** "Moeru Tōkon (Japanese for Burning Fighting Split) * Entrance themes ** "Honō no Fighter" (炎のファイター) – originally used in the 1977 Muhammad Ali biopic The Greatest ** "Pacific Zone" (WCW) Wrestlers trained * Akira Maedahttp://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=1096&page=14 * Bad News Allen * Brian Adams * First Tiger Mask * Hartley Jackson * Heddi Karaoui * Hiroshi Hase * Kazuyuki Fujita * Keiji Muto * Kengo Kimura * Masahiro Chono * Masanobu Kurisu * Naoya Ogawa * Nobuhiko Takada * Osamu Kido * Riki Choshu * Rocky Romero * Shinya Hashimoto * Tadao Yasuda * Tatsumi Fujinami * Tatsutoshi Goto * T.J. Perkinshttp://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/bios/t/t-j-perkins/ * Victor Zangiev * Yoshiaki Fujiwara Championships and accomplishments * Cauliflower Alley Club ** Lou Thesz Award (2004) * Japan Wrestling Association ** NWA International Tag Team Championship (4 times) – with Shohei Baba ** All Asia Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Michiaki Yoshimura (2) and Kintaro Ohki (1) ** 11th World Big League ** 1st and 2nd World Tag League (with Kantaro Hoshino and Seiji Sakaguchi) * National Wrestling Federation ** NWF Heavyweight Championship (4 times) * New Japan Pro Wrestling ** IWGP Heavyweight Championship (1 time) ** [[NWA North American Tag Team Championship (Los Angeles/Japan Version)|NWA North American Tag Team Championship (Los Angeles/Japan version)]] (1 time) – with Seiji Sakaguchi ** WWF World Martial Arts Heavyweight Championship (1 time, inaugural and final) ** NJPW Real World Championship (1 time) ** NJPW IWGP League (1984, 1986, 1987, 1988) ** NJPW Japan Cup Tag Team League (1986) with Yoshiaki Fujiwara ** MSG League (1978–1981) ** MSG Tag League (1980) with Bob Backlund ** MSG Tag League (1982) with Hulk Hogan ** MSG Tag League (1983) with Hulk Hogan ** MSG Tag League (1984) with Tatsumi Fujinami ** Six Man Tag Team Cup League (1988) with Riki Choshu & Kantaro HoshinoJapan Cup Elimination Tag League « Tournaments Database « CAGEMATCH – The Internet Wrestling Database. Cagematch.net. Retrieved on May 10, 2014. **World League (1974, 1975) ** Greatest Wrestlers (Class of 2007)NJPW Greatest Wrestlers. New Japan Pro Wrestling. Retrieved on August 23, 2014. * NWA Big Time Wrestling ** NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship (1 time) ** NWA World Tag Team Championship (Texas version) (1 time) – with Duke Keomuka * NWA Hollywood Wrestling ** [[NWA North American Tag Team Championship (Los Angeles/Japan Version)|NWA North American Tag Team Championship (Los Angeles/Japan version)]] (1 time) – with Seiji Sakaguchi ** NWA United National Championship (1 time) * NWA Mid-America ** NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-America version) (1 time) – with Hiro Matsuda * Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum ** Class of 2009 * Pro Wrestling Illustrated ** PWI ranked him #5 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003 * Pro Wrestling This Week **Wrestler of the Week (June 7–13, 1987) * Tokyo Sports ** 30th Anniversary Lifetime Achievement Award (1990) ** 50th Anniversary Lifetime Achievement Award (2010) ** Best Tag Team Award (1975) with Seiji Sakaguchi ** Best Tag Team Award (1981) with Tatsumi Fujinami ** Distinguished Service Award (1979, 1982) ** Lifetime Achievement Award (1989) ** Match of the Year Award (1974) vs. Strong Kobayashi on March 19 ** Match of the Year Award (1975) vs. Billy Robinson on December 11 ** Match of the Year Award (1979) with Giant Baba vs. Abdullah the Butcher and Tiger Jeet Singh on August 26 ** Match of the Year Award (1984) vs. Riki Choshu on August 2 ** MVP Award (1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981) ** Special Grand Award (1983, 1987) ** Technique Award (1985) * Universal Wrestling Association ** UWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) * World Championship Wrestling ** WCW Hall of Fame (Class of 1995) * World Wide Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment ** WWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time) (unofficial)1 ** WWWF World Martial Arts Heavyweight Championship (2 times, inaugural and final) ** WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2010) * Wrestling Observer Newsletter ** Promoter of the Year (2001) ** Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996) 1 Inoki's WWF Heavyweight Championship reign is not officially recognized by WWE. References External links * Puroresu.com: Antonio Inoki * Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame Profile * TWC: Antonio Inoki Home Page * Antonio Inoki and Mizutani-sensei form Kansuiryu Karate in 1979 Category:Japanese male professional wrestlers Category:New Japan Pro Wrestling Category:Professional wrestling executives Category:Professional wrestling trainers Category:Professional wrestling promoters Category:Wrestlers Category:Retired Category:Inoki Genome Federation Roster Category:JWA alumin Category:NJPW Roster